2019 is right around the corner and most potential strategies to reduce your 2018 tax liability expire on 12/31/18. Now is the time to review your situation and implement any potential tax savings measures. Business owners have a number of potential moves that they can make prior to year-end. Below are a few of the most common:

Defer Taxable Income & Accelerate Deductions - First and foremost, if you are able to defer taxable income until next year, or accelerate business deductions into the current year, that's often the best way to reduce your overall liability.

Depreciation Changes - If you need to buy an expensive piece of equipment it's important to know exactly what your depreciation deduction will be for the year. These rules have changed significantly under the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and eligible qualified property now yields a 100% 1st year federal depreciation deduction. Auto depreciation limits have also been increased for both passenger and heavy (over 6,000 pounds) vehicles.

Retirement Plan Options - There are many different qualified retirement plans to choose from and they all (with the exception of a SEP IRA) have to be established by 12/31/18 if you want to make a contribution for the current year. A SOLO 401(k) is often the best choice if you are the only employee (or you and your spouse are the only employees) in your business and you want to maximize your annual contributions.

Estimated Tax - Ensure that you have enough tax paid in to avoid penalty on your 2018 tax return. To avoid a penalty on your 2018 return, you need to have at least 90% of your 2018 tax liability paid in by year end. If you are not sure what your tax liability will be the alternative approach is to pay in 100% (110% if your AGI is greater than $150,000) of your 2017 liability.

Auto Mileage – Make sure you are tracking all of the necessary information to take a deduction for business mileage. If you don’t want to deal with a physical mileage log there are numerous apps available that can help you keep up with mileage throughout the year.

In addition to analyzing potential tax saving strategies, the end of the year is a good time to review other common issues and make sure you are in compliance.

S-Corp Reasonable Compensation - All S-Corporations shareholders that perform services for their business are owners as well as employees, and as employees they must receive "reasonable compensation" for their services rendered to the S-Corporation. There is no set guideline for exactly how much this amount must be but it should be on par with industry standards for salaries paid at other companies for similar services. There are 9 factors the IRS would look at if it ever came up, with number 8 likely being the heaviest weighted factor: (1) Employee qualifications; (2) The nature, extent, and scope of the employee’s work; (3) The size and complexity of the business; (4) Prevailing general economic conditions; (5) The employee’s compensation as a percentage of gross and net income; (6) The employee-shareholder’s compensation compared with distributions to shareholders; (7) The employee-shareholder’s compensation compared with that to non-shareholder employees or paid in prior years; (8) Prevailing rates of compensation for comparable positions in comparable concerns; and (9) Comparison of compensation paid to a particular shareholder-employee in previous years where the corporation has a limited number of officers. I would also recommend having something in writing in your company records, documenting how you arrived at the salary figure, using Salary.com or an equivalent way of tracking and comparing the salary amount.

S-Corp SE Health on W-2 - If you are an S-Corporation owner with self-employed health insurance premiums, make sure that it is properly reflected on your W-2 so that you can maximize the deduction on your personal return.

Guard Against Co-mingling of Funds - If you have a business, even if it is a small sole proprietorship, the IRS requires the business to keep good books and records to distinguish between business finances and personal finances. This means that you MUST have a separate bank account for your business and ALL items of income and expense should be run through the business account. Failure to distinguish between business and personal, either by running personal income/expenses through a business account or running business income/expenses through a personal account, is called "co-mingling funds" and opens up the business to severe penalties by the IRS. A separate issue, but just as important, co-mingling funds can also increase your liability in a lawsuit. A lawsuit brought against a business that has co-mingled funds can go after not only the business assets, but also the personal assets of the business owner.

Accounting - Maintaining clear distinctions between business and personal accounts not only protects the business from lawsuits and IRS penalties, it also makes your monthly bookkeeping and accounting much easier and ensures accuracy. Speaking of bookkeeping, if you are looking to sign up for QuickBooks’s online version of their software, we are happy to offer all business clients our 50% wholesale pricing discount. Just let us know BEFORE you sign up so that we can get you locked in at the discounted rate.

Worker Classification - As you hire new workers in your business make sure that you are classifying them correctly at the onset. A misconception among some small business owners is that you can choose whether to 1099 a worker or issue them a W-2. This is not only incorrect; it can be a very expensive mistake. Incorrectly classifying a worker as an Independent Contractor that receives an annual 1099-MISC will subject the business to additional taxes and penalties from both the IRS and the Department of Labor. If you have an employee you must add them to payroll for all payments to them. If you truly do have independent contractors, make sure that you structure the relationship so that it is obviously a business to business relationship. All subcontractors should sign an independent contractor agreement form and have their own business account set up before payments are made to them. Ideally they will have their own business entity set up, invoice your business for services rendered, and maintain their own business license. If you are unsure about how to classify a worker please reach out with any questions. The IRS has a 20 point checklist with questions that are used to determine proper classification. For more information you can visit the IRS web article about the issue.

Meals & Entertainment - The deduction for business entertainment has been eliminated this year. Please see our previous article here for more information about meals and entertainment deductions under the TCJA.

Hobby Losses - The Schedule A deduction for expenses related to a "hobby loss" has also been eliminated under the TCJA. It's more important than ever to make sure that your side business activity is structured as a real business so that you can deduct any potential losses.

Remindersfor Georgia Companies - (1) Renew your county/city business license by year end, (2) Issue 1099’s and W-2’s by January 31st, (3) File your corporate or partnership return by March 15th, (4) Renew your LLC or Corporation by April 1st, and (5) File your county business personal property tax return by April 1st.

This is general information and a brief summarization of complicated tax issues which are often subject to many exclusions and limitations. We make every effort to verify the accuracy of all information but we do not guarantee or warranty advice disseminated over the internet. Please give us a call to discuss potential strategies and ensure they make sense for your specific situation.